Fog-alarm



(No' Model.) A.. Hl

'FOG ALARM.

Patented Mar.' 11

N. PETERS. Pimm-Limogmpher. wauw-mn D. C

UNITED STATES PATENT CEEICE.

ALANSON HENDLY SHERMAN, OF SOMERVILLE, MASSACHUSETTS.

FOG-ALARM.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 294,918, dated March11, 1884.

Applicaiioufled December 26, 1883. (No model.)

To aZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ALANsoN HENDLY SHEE- MAN, of Somerville, in thecounty of MiddleseX, of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts7 have inventeda new and useful Improvement in Fog-Alarms, or machinery for sounding ahorn for giving signals in a fog; andIdo hereby declare the same to bedescribed in the following specification, and represented in theaccompanying drawings, of which- Figure 1 is a side elevation, and Fig.2 a longitudinal and vertical section, of my improved fog-signalizer.V y

The nature of my invention is defined in the claim hereinafterpresented.

In the drawings, A denotes an upright steam boiler or generator providedat top with a self-closing cock, B, which opens from the boiler into ahorn, C. The valve a of the said cock is fixed to a spindle, b, which isprovided with a spiral spring, s, for closing the valve upon its seat c.The said spindle slides in the body of the cock, and has a slot, d,toreceive the shorter arm e of a bent lever, D, the'said lever beingfulcrumed to an arm, E, extending from-the cock. The longer arm f of thesaid lever terminates at its lower-end in or has Xed to it a foot orrectangular plate,

. F, which answers not only as a stop for the lever, but as a device fora cam, G, to bea-r against, in order to force the arm f upward. To thefoot F and to the boiler a spiral spring, H, is attached and arranged asrepresented. The said cam G, formed as shown, has its periphery an arcof a circle, the cam between the termini of the arc being recessed, asshown, lto allow the foot F, on passing off the said periphery, to fall4downward and bring up against the side of the boiler, it being so movedby the spring H. The arbor g of the cam has fixed ou it alantern-pinion, h, that engages with a gear, t, such arbor, pinion, andgear. constituting part of a common clock-work movement, I. This clockwork movement is to automatically revolve the arbor at a regular rate,in order for the horn to Abe sounded at proper intervals, and each ofsuch souudings of it to be for agiven period of time. From this it willbe seen that the fog-alarm is an automatic one. The spring H has a powergreater than that of the valvement77 for operating it automatically.

closing springs. Consequently, when the lever-arm f is free to movedownward, it will be so moved by the spring H, and the valve of the cockwill be opened and forced off its seat, and will remain open until theleverarm `is raised by the cani and kept raised thereby. The moment thefoot of the leverarm Vpasses off the end of the cam the spring H willdraw downward the said arm until the foot F brings up against theboiler. -The valve of the cockwill, by its spring s, be closed on itsseat, while the lever-arm f is being raised and kept up by the cam.

From the above it will be seen that while steam of sufficient force maybe generated in and by the boiler, and the clock-work is in operation,the steam, at regular intervals and automatically, will be let into thehorn to sound it.

I am aware that it is not new to have a fogliorn blown by air `or steamby means or mechanism kept in operation by manual power, such being asshown in the United States Patent No. 28,837, and therefore do not claimsuch. 'My apparatus, though involving various of the elements of theapparatus described in the said patent, has material differences,whereby it is caused to operate-automatically to advantage-that is tosay, it not only has a cock proyided with a spring to close its valve,but it has an additional and' stronger spring to effect the opening ofthe valve; and, furthermore, it has a foot to answer, in manner asdescribed, both as a stop to the valvelever and as a device for theoperative cam to work against. It also has a clock-move- It may be usedon shipboard as well as on land.

I claim- In combination with the steam-generator, the self-closing cock,and the horn arranged as described, the cock-valve-spindle-operatinglever, its foot and actuating-spring,the rotary cam, and theclock-movement for revolving such cam, all being adapted substantiallyand to operate as set forth.

, `ALANSON HEDLY SHERMAN.

Vitnesses:

R. H. EDDY, E. B. PRATT.

